Wheeldon v Burrows [1879] 12 Ch D 31

Court of Appeal

Basic Facts : X sold a piece of land with a workshop, and later conveyed the workshop to D. The workshop’s windows depended on light from the land sold to C.

Issue for the Court : When can easements be acquired?

Held : The court upheld the rule that implied easements can arise where they are necessary for the reasonable enjoyment of the land.

 Held Bacon VC

• Easements must be expressly reserved if intended; otherwise, they do not pass automatically.

• Continuous and apparent easements need to be explicitly reserved or justified by necessity.

Held Thesiger LJ

• All continuous and apparent easements necessary for reasonable enjoyment pass with the grant unless expressly reserved.